LONDON - British lawmaker Michael Gove has been appointed as the country's levelling-up minister by new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, his office said on Tuesday.
Gove, an influential figure in British politics for more than a decade, replaces Simon Clarke, who resigned earlier in the day after Sunak officially took office.
Gove had previously served as levelling-up minister between Sept. 2021 and July 2022.
Here are five facts about Gove:
- Gove, 55, was a vocal critic of former prime minister Liz Truss's economic plan which prompted investors to dump the pound. At the governing Conservative Party's conference earlier this year, he led the criticism of the government's planned abolition of the top tax rate. The government later U-turned on the measure.
- After being elected to parliament in 2005, Gove has held a series of ministerial posts including education, justice, and environment.
- He was a leading light of the campaign to leave the European Union, pairing up again with his adviser Dominic Cummings, who was seen as its mastermind. He repeatedly said much of his dislike of the EU stemmed from the collapse of his father's fishing business.
- During the Conservative leadership election of 2016, Gove suddenly pulled his support from Boris Johnson, forcing his one-time friend to leave the race.
- Born in 1967 in Scotland, Gove was taken into care and then adopted at the age of four months. After school, he went to Oxford University where he first met former prime minister Johnson, running his campaign to be president of the union.